54 min At the moment Southampton look much likelier to get the fifth goal. United have struggled to put more than a few passes together at any stage in the match. Pogba has been poor but he’s not alone in that.

50 min That was a rare thing from Gabbiadini, the great goalscorer’s goal. His reactions and opportunism were wonderful. Lingard, meanwhile, is very lucky not to get a second yellow card for a trip on Redmond. Actually Redmond did him a favour by staying on his feet and when play eventually broke down Lingard was given only a last warning.

It’s his second of the game. United couldn’t get out from a corner. The ball was headed back in from the edge of the box, and as it bounced up 10 yards from goal Gabbadini hooked a brilliant snapshot on the turn past the motionless De Gea.

GOAL! Manchester United 2-2 Southampton (Gabbiadini 48)

48 min Ward-Prowse, who has been terrific, wins a corner on the right for Southampton. Tadic’s corner is half cleared and lofted back in to Redmond, who whistles a beautiful volley from 15 yards that is punched behind for a corner by De Gea.

This is a good point “In the Ibra goal, I think the ball travelled at a greater pace than your typical inside of the boot curler,” says Phil Podolsky. “Which is what confused Forster, who must’ve decided he didn’t have the time to take the couple of small steps keepers usually take before jumping to the other side of the goal on free kicks, so his leap wasn’t all that.”

“Eddie Izzard once talked about a circle of cool,” says Matt Dony. “You can move around the circle, looking cooler and cooler, until you get to a certain point where you cross back from very cool to very uncool. I think there’s a similar circle of arrogance, starting at humble and likeable (say, Zola), getting increasingly confident (most footballers), past outright dislikable arrogance (Lord Bendtner), and back to likeable again. Zlatan embodies this anomaly. He should not be likeable, but he is. It’s his world, and we’re all thankful to be in it.”

Dael Morris “I saw the replay of the offside decision and it’s hard to tell - what they gave us was just before the ball was struck, and he’s definitely onside then. If he’s offside a nanosecond later, then the assistant is brilliant, if unknowingly so. I also agree that Zlatan’s goal is soft. The keeper is just late. What is noticeable is that United are flustered. The occasion has got to them. And for all the talking up of Pogba, he’s not a good defensive/holding midfielder. He keeps drifting into the center and into the attack and leaves a hole on United’s left between Martial and Rojo. The result is that we have half a midfield and our attack is neutered.”

Derryl Murphy “Lying on the floor with a back injury, following your updates and contemplating my age and death, especially after the awful news about Bill Paxton today. It’s all a very good combination any time United has the lead.”

Half time: Manchester United 2-1 Southampton

Peep peep! That’s the end of a cracking first half. Southampton have been the better team, and had a good goal disallowed at 0-0 before Ibrahimovic (big-game specialist) and Lingard (Wembley specialist) did their thing. At that stage it would have been easy for Southampton to feel sorry for themselves but they keep coming and Gabbiadini scored a deserved goal in added time. See you in 10 minutes for the second half!

It’s an excellent goal. Redmond plays the ball down the right to Ward-Prowse, who sidefoots a cracking cross towards the near post. Gabbiadini gets between the central defenders and pings it first time through the legs of De Gea.

42 min “Is it lonely there?” says Bruce Jackson. “I’ve been ‘vacuuming’ and watching the rugby, as the proper game’s only on Sky.Perhaps a few others have as well? What do you know about the rules of rugby and the difference between a ruck and only a tackle?”

40 min Stephens is booked for a bad tackle on Martial. The United players reacted furiously, and for a while it looked like Stephens would been sent off. It was a lunge, with his studs showing, but it was one-footed and he didn’t go over the top, so a yellow card feels just about right. Lingard is also booked, presumably for dissent.

Jesse Lingard gets his third goal in as many games at Wembley. Rojo combined neatly with Mata and Martial on the left before squaring the ball to Lingard in space just inside the box. He got the ball out of his feet before sidefooting it through Yoshida’s legs and past the diving Forster. It was a calm finish but poor defending from Southampton. Lingard had far too much space.

35 min Another corner to Southampton, their fourth of the match. United have had none. Ward-Prowse’s inswinger rebounds to Stephens, who is only two yards from goal but at a tight angle. He eschews the shot and tries to lay it back to the waiting Yoshida. There’s a United defender in the way and he clears. It all happened really fast but on reflection Stephens could have just leathered that at goal.

30 min Using Lingard as a No10 hasn’t worked at all and it’s a surprise he hasn’t been swapped with Mata. Obviously that means a lack of pace in central area but that’s preferable to a lack of anything.